Sunday, June 18, 2017

Welcome to Fidalgo Bay, Washington

After three days without any hook-ups, we were ready to move to our next campground in Anacortes, Washington. We've traveled another hour north, as we drive into Fidalgo Bay RV. It's nice to have 50-amps of electricity, plus water and sewer hook-ups! It's also nice to be in a very picturesque spot along Fidalgo Bay on a beautiful day. There is a walking/bicycling trail that actually runs through the RV park, so we got out our bikes soon after we arrived.

The path took us over Fidalgo Bay, on a bridge above the water that was built just for riding bicycles or strolling.

There are interesting obstacles on the trail. The resident sea gulls scoop up clams along the waters of the bay. These bird brains have figured out the easiest way to break the clam shell and get to the meat inside. They drop it from high above the hard surface of the bike path, and it cracks right open. Then the gulls scoop up the tasty clam inside and leave the sharp broken clam shells on the trail. Our next door neighbor told us that the trail is swept clean on a regular basis, because those sharp shells will puncture bike tires. We see one of those bird-brain sea gulls to the left of the trail as Denisa rides her new bike by--hoping not to get her brand new tires punctured.

We turned around at the end of the bridge, then headed in the opposite direction on the trail. With the bay on our right, we have a three mile ride into the harbor town of Anacortes.

We stopped at Cap Sante Park to see how the citizens of this part of Washington spend a beautiful-weather afternoon.

There were kayakers and sailboats enjoying the weather in the bay. We also saw a whole boat load of whale watchers leaving the marina. They have been guaranteed to see an orca (killer whale) before they return to the harbor.

When we walked to the end of the dock, we saw an entire school of fish. We were mesmerized as we watched them shift back and forth, and change direction as if they were one unit. It was a little like watching a living lava lamp that changes shapes and size.

But that one unit of fishiness was actually made up of thousands of small fish, moving in unison as the group responded to waves and other movements in the water.

We are getting used to finding memorials that list the names of citizens that died at sea near each port. It's sobering to see the length of the list of names. It reminds us that the ocean is a dangerous place. There is also a statue named "Lady of the Sea" to commemorate the families that wait for their fishermen to come home safely.

We had a great moving-day tour of our new home-town here in Anacortes, Washington. We have a long list of things we want to see and do in this area and we like what we have seen already.